In the retail industry, the largest expenditures are typically the cost of the goods sold followed closely by the cost of labor expended. With particular regard to the retail grocery or supermarket industry, the impetus to reduce labor costs has focused on reducing or eliminating the amount of time required to handle and/or process the items or goods to be purchased by a customer. To this end, there have been a number of self-service checkout terminal concepts developed which attempt to substantially eliminate the need for a checkout clerk.
A self-service checkout terminal is a system which is operated by a customer without the aid of a checkout clerk. In such a system, the customer scans individual items for purchase across a scanner and then places the scanned item into a grocery bag, if desired. The customer then pays for his or her purchase either at the self-service checkout terminal if so equipped, or at a central payment area which is staffed by a store employee. Thus, a self-service checkout terminal permits a customer to select, itemize, and in some cases pay for his or her items for purchase without the assistance of the retailer's personnel.
A customer typically has little or no training in the operation of a self-service checkout terminal prior to his or her initial use of the checkout terminal. One concern that retailers have when evaluating a self-service checkout terminal is the level of supervision provided to inexperienced customers. Moreover, it is also known that some customers may have improper intentions when using a self-service checkout terminal. In traditional checkout systems, the clerk employed by the retailer to operate the checkout terminal provides a level of security against theft or other improprieties. However, in the case of a self-service checkout terminal, the terminal itself must provide the necessary security. Hence, self-service checkout terminals which have heretofore been designed typically include a security system which provides a level of security against theft or other improprieties.
One such security system which has been utilized in previously designed self-service checkout systems includes an item sensor such as a weight scale which is positioned to detect the insertion or removal of items into and out of a shopping container such as a grocery bag. Monitoring such insertion and removal of items from a grocery bag is particularly useful in situations such as determining if a customer inserts an item into a grocery bag without having first scanned the item. Hence, self-service checkout terminals utilizing such a security system typically have two separate weight scales. In particular, in addition to the security weight scale utilized to detect insertion or removal of items into and out of a grocery bag, a product weight scale is provided to weigh items such as produce items which are sold based on weight thereof during the itemization process. More specifically, the product weight scale is generally a certified weight scale which is provided to weigh a produce item or the like such that the weight value of the item may be utilized in order to calculate the price that the customer must pay for the item.
However, self-service checkout terminals including such a security system have a number of drawbacks associated therewith. For example, use of two separate weight scales is inherently expensive thereby increasing costs associated with manufacture of the self-service checkout terminal. Moreover, having separate weight scales may potentially reduce the efficiency or throughput associated with operation of the self-service checkout terminal by the customer. For example, in the case of a produce item or the like, the customer must first place the produce item on the product weight scale so as to enter the produce item into the terminal, and thereafter remove the produce item from the product weight scale and place the produce item in a shopping bag so as to be detected by the security weight scale.
What is needed therefore is a self-service checkout terminal which overcomes one or more of the above-mentioned drawbacks. What is particularly needed is a self-service checkout terminal which utilizes a single weight scale to perform both an itemization function and a security function. What is also particularly needed is a self-service checkout terminal which provides for enhanced efficiency and throughput during operation thereof by a customer.